Calorie deficit for petites!

[Oxfordgirl]

Hi guys! Hope you're having a good week. 

Basically, I'm intrigued to hear from how you fellow 'petites' (I'm 5'3") are managing your calorie deficit and weight loss. 

About me: I'm fairly new to fitbit, I bought my Zip three weeks ago now. I'm hoping to lose a stone in total, as I'm currently on the 'unhealthy' side of the BMI for my height. The fitbit has been awesome for getting me out of the house and walking around the countryside 🙂 I track using Myfitnesspal and eat a varied but healthy diet, always within my recommended limits and mostly 'under' compared to my cals burned walking. I've been using the same programme for 3 weeks: 750 calorie deficit, 10k+ steps per day. In week one I lost 2.25lb, in week two I lost nothing at all, in week 3 I lost 0.75lb.

So since I've been so good (and I chug four to five pints of water over the course of a day) - what's with the inconsistent weight loss? I manually counted my burn and intake, and using the old '3500 calories is a pound weight loss' formula, I should have lost 2lb each week.

I've now revised my fitbit programme to 'Hard, i.e. 2lb weight loss a week, but now I'm being recommended to limit myself to 887 calories a day in food - is that okay, given the one-size-fits-all 1200 cal minimum rule? Can a petite girl safely eat that and lose weight?

[DominicJ]

MFP should be giving you four numbers

Your Goal

Your Food

Your Excercise

And Your Remaining

It should not be giving you a goal of less than 1200, 

That will be the absolute minimum it says, and it will quickly add calories on for steps.

I'm currently

1500 - 250 + 650 = 1900

I **NEED** to eat another 1900 cals today to lose 2lbs per week, even though thats higher than my goal and I've already eaten.

Eating less than that is VERY VERY bad.

Because your body starts to stop doing nonessential things like growing hair, and nails, and repairing bones.

[Shortsbysummer]

It sucks being a petite sometimes, especially once you hit 'middle age'.  Our calorie allowance is so tiny because of our height that we have to work our butts off at the gym so we can eat like average height people!  I'm 5'1 barely. I've been keeping my calories around 1400/day and burning 3000+ with 2hrs of walking/jogging/stairs/cardio.  The weight has been coming off fairly well.   I've lost 30-lbs in 2 months, but have 20-lbs more until I"m out of 'obese' and into 'overweight' (75-lbs to my goal).  I'm vegetarian but moving towards a vegan lifestyle and I think it's been helping that I've been eating a lot more vegetables and fruit, especially leafy greens.   Even ominvores can benefit from eating a lot more vegetables.  My plate is at least 3/4 vegetables/fruit and 1/4 other.  The only way for us shorties to be able to eat more is to build more muscle and be very active.  I saw an episode of Extreme Weight Loss where the participant was 4'-something and she had to exercise like crazy but she did it.  Less than 1200 is not a good place to be.  Is your Fitbit set to follow your activity during the day and adjust your calories accordingly?  I use MFP to log my food and it lets me see my calorie deficit a lot more clearly than Fitbit's website.

[bingbingwing]

Sounds like you are losing about 1# per week average which is decent especially for petite people. I am 5'2" and have gotten to my goal weight. It takes a lot of hard work and patience. And you shouldn't expect losing more than 1# per week. The closer you get to goal it is going to drop down to 0.5# per week. Your calorie burn is an estimate so there is going to be a little error in that calculation. Do you weigh your food? If not, you may be eating more cals than you think. Using measuring cups is not as accurate. Are you lifting weights? If so, you won't see a drop in the scale, but will make changed in your body composition by losing body fat, gaining muscle and losing inches/pants sizes. What types of food do you eat? Eating enough protein will help with fat loss. Hang in there!

[Heybales]

Do you have over 45 lbs to lose to be taking a reasonable 750 cal deficit?

Or over 60 lbs for 1000 cal deficit?

With your TDEE being smaller over all, the block deficits are a bigger % of your daily burn.

And a body starts adapting and slowing down by how big the % of undereating you are doing.

So either need to do more cardio, but with good resistance training to maintain muscle mass, to increase your daily burn.

Or get more reasonable with weight loss goals.

You didn't gain fat fast, don't attempt to lose it fast, or it won't be all fat you lose.

And you'll regret that when you have to do it again next year.

Also, weight loss isn't linear. Everyone has a big water weight drop the first week.

Everyone has a big water weight gain if starting cardio exercise much more than they did before.

Everyone has increased blood volume if outside in summer and getting hot.

Also, as a woman, your metabolism literally changes through the month, so you need at minimum a month before you can even discern if something is working or not.

But don't wait to find out if extreme deficit is working - you won't like the results.

[Oxfordgirl]

Thanks DominicJ, indeed my MFP profile will not go below 1200 as that's the typical no-one-should-eat-less-than-this, but since I updated my Fitbit goal, my Fitbit (not MFP) has been recommending 800-odd a day if I do no exercise. I wonder if, as a petite woman, and since I tend not to lose weight eating 1200 per day, whether I can actually power myself on less, provided it is nutrient-rich food.

[Oxfordgirl]

Wow Shortsbysummer, well done on your weight loss far, 3000+ calories burned a day is fantastic! I only get up to about 2,300 on a really good day. Yeah Fitbit does adjust so if I've walked my 10,00 steps for the day, it tells me to eat more, up to 1400 calories, but if I stay sedentary it hovers around 800-1000. But I suspect it's over-calculating the food I need when I exercise, since it's not showing up on the scales.

Maybe I should follow your example, try to go beyond the 1000 deficit by exercising more rather than cutting back on the calories. At the moment I can just about fit in my 10,000 steps around my schedule. I'm studying at the moment so I spend pretty much all day sat at a desk, but as soon as I'm finished I'll challenge myself to up my daily calories burned! 😄

[Oxfordgirl]

Hey Bingbingwing, thanks for your post. Yeah I'm trying not to be impatient here, but I was pretty surprised by how inconsistent my results each week were; if it had been exactly 1lb each week I'd be a lot less confused!

I do weigh my food (although use tsp and tbsp for sauces, cream cheese, etc.... pretty hard to get that on the scale!), but certainly I'll try to keep a close eye on it, I think overestimating is more likely than not. I LOVE to lift weights! I'm out-of-practice though so DOMS mean that I have to take a couple of rest days in between workouts. Thanks - slowly but surely!

[Oxfordgirl]

Hey there Heybales, thanks for your post.

I actually have 27lbs to lose, but I was going on Fitbit's diet plan, where they give you the option along the lines of Easy-Medium-Kinda Hard-Hard. I started with Kinda-Hard and have been eating slightly under my calorie recommendation according to Fitbit each day, with an overall deficit (including walking etc) of 1000 cals a day. The diet plan options didn't warn me about what to pick if I had 60+, 45+ or less lbs to lose. This is news to me! So what is a TDEE?

Like you suggest I'll wait till the end of the month to see what the pattern is, and see if it happens again the following month (although I take the mini-pill, so any normal women's hormonal changes due to menstruation aren't happening while I'm on it).

So what cal deficit from food should I be looking at to lose 27lbs? I like to exercise a lot though, surely there's no harm in making up a daily 1000 cal deficit from exercise? Thanks for your advice 🙂

[Heybales]

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@Oxfordgirl wrote:

Hey there Heybales, thanks for your post.

I actually have 27lbs to lose, but I was going on Fitbit's diet plan, where they give you the option along the lines of Easy-Medium-Kinda Hard-Hard. I started with Kinda-Hard and have been eating slightly under my calorie recommendation according to Fitbit each day, with an overall deficit (including walking etc) of 1000 cals a day. The diet plan options didn't warn me about what to pick if I had 60+, 45+ or less lbs to lose. This is news to me! So what is a TDEE?

Like you suggest I'll wait till the end of the month to see what the pattern is, and see if it happens again the following month (although I take the mini-pill, so any normal women's hormonal changes due to menstruation aren't happening while I'm on it).

So what cal deficit from food should I be looking at to lose 27lbs? I like to exercise a lot though, surely there's no harm in making up a daily 1000 cal deficit from exercise? Thanks for your advice 🙂

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TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure - maintenance - what Fitbit says you burned in a day (though usually underestimated)

No site that lets you select the weight loss goal is going to give a warning - those that give recommendations are ignored.

Why?

Everyone wants to lose as fast as possible, and if there is option that appears faster - the thinking is why not take it.

So you have been taking a 1000 cal deficit - and missing it to cause an even bigger deficit.

A reasonable deficit leads to just fat loss.

An unreasonable deficit includes muscle mass - and the sort of statistics that show people failing to maintain because they have crushed their metabolism down, but fail to follow through eating so little in maintenance to keep the weight down.

27 lbs would be reasonable with 1 lb weekly. At 10 lbs left, 1/2 lb weekly. Or 500 and then 250 cal deficit.

No way you gained it that fast, that would imply eating 500 extra calories daily over maintenance, each and every day.

So don't attempt to lose it fast either.

You aren't making up a 1000 cal deficit from exercise though - where do you think the calories comes from to supply for the energy burned doing it?

Carbs and fat - the % depends on how intense and how long. Frequent enough start throwing protein in there too. Being in a diet doesn't change that, only changes how many carbs are stored for use.

Since that energy is being spent, the body will just slow other things down to compensate for it as a body doesn't like to lose weight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

Reasonable deficit can avoid the effect mostly they discuss in that research study.

[Eggatomic · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

I am even more "peptit-er" than you. I'm only 5 ft tall.  When I started using my fitbit charge HR device last summer, I was 65kg and now I am 52kg. And my bodyfat went down from 40% to 26%.

I didn't follow the deficit plan of fitbit as I don't think I can follow it at all. 

For example, if I choose the harder plan, I have to eat 750 calories less everyday in order to meet the goal. However, as a small frame, my daily calories need would be only around 1700(if i am not doing any exercises), which means that I can only eat 950 a day?! I don't think that is workable at all.

On the other hand, I take the 5:2 fasting diet instead, which limited your calories intake under 500 calories of two of the days of the week. The other days you are free to eat anything. 

But I also exercise 4-5 times a week, mostly doing bodycomat, bodyjam, rpm, bodypump and yoga classes.

I also tried just doing exercises 5 times a week but not dieting for 2 weeks, but I didn't lose any weight at all. After I restarted the 5:2 diet, I lose weight agian. So, I found dieting is more important than excerising in losing weight.

That works for me and I found it is not difficult to fit my daily rountine at all. I down from size 12/14 to 8/10 now.

My target is to lose around 15 more pounds. I hope I can meet my target before August. I know that I am not losing my weight very quicky but I found it very comfortable. I enjoy the dieitng and exercise as well.

Most importantly, my friends and colleagues notices the change on me too.

I hope my story can help you. 🙂

Cheers,

Tsz Man

[Oxfordgirl]

Hey Tsz, 

Thanks for your message, good to know I'm not the only one who was baffled by the fitbit deficit plan! That's really interesting that you didn't lose through exercise alone, even when exercising daily. It seems like you've found a system that works brilliantly for you, so congratulations! I think it's a great sign that you're enjoying it too.

I'm not sure about 5:2 for me... switching between binging days and fasting days seems to be how I gained so much weight in the first place!  I think the take home message from this thread is that I probably shouldn't rely (or obsess!) too much on what fitbit says. It looks like daily exercise is a must, along with taking a lower deficit and just biding my time while I lose the fat slowly.

[Heybales]

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@Oxfordgirl wrote:

Hey Tsz, 

Thanks for your message, good to know I'm not the only one who was baffled by the fitbit deficit plan! That's really interesting that you didn't lose through exercise alone, even when exercising daily. It seems like you've found a system that works brilliantly for you, so congratulations! I think it's a great sign that you're enjoying it too.

I'm not sure about 5:2 for me... switching between binging days and fasting days seems to be how I gained so much weight in the first place!  I think the take home message from this thread is that I probably shouldn't rely (or obsess!) too much on what fitbit says. It looks like daily exercise is a must, along with taking a lower deficit and just biding my time while I lose the fat slowly.

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Probably should be clarified for any that happen to read this.

You don't "binge" on the 5 days - you eat at maintenance - whatever Fitbit says you burn, you eat that much.

The 2 days isn't total fasting either - you eat 25% of whatever Fitbit says you burn. Normally non-exercise days - so you do indeed eat less. But you could get some walking in to increase the daily burn and therefore the 25%.

The net result is a weekly 22% deficit, but with 5 days for hormones to be happy about eating levels, and 2 days where the metabolism actually has chance to increase, which it does during first 24 hrs of fast.

Side point - no one can lose weight through exercise alone - despite the claims of commercials for exercise equipment (read the fine print about the diet they were on too).

Exercise has side effect of water weight gain.

Studies have shown that in free-living folks, exercise causes them to eat more and gain.

Diet control is what causes weight loss, so logging what you eat prevents that side-effect of exercise making you eat more.

[Eggatomic]

Thanks! Heybales! That's very informative.
Oxfordgirl: Maybe you can check this website out if u wanna know more about 5:2
the fastdiet.co.uk
Cheers.

[Malmo-Bo · Accepted solution]

Another petite individual here!

Similar to other posters, I could not do a 750 or 1000 cal deficit, especially on rest days! Even days when I do my long runs I'm only burning 2,600 - 3,200 calories, and I love my food way too much to starve! I've been working with a 500 calorie deficit, exercising 3-4 times per week (runs + one day of strength training), and ensuring I'm averaging at least 70K steps per week. I've been steadily losing about a pound a week, I do hit plateaus every month/month and a half, but I can usually trace these back to a night out drinking or one too many pints of Ben & Jerry's! I smarten up and within a week I'm back on track.

As someone who is petite and with not much wieght left to come off, a deficit of 500 is working swimingly!

[Eggatomic]

I just gained 8 pounds again after 3 weeks of holiday(well, I was in the U.S. And Canada. Was eating at least 2500 calories every day!!! ).....needs start dieting again!!!

[Rhythm]

I am so happy someone posted this! I am NOT QUITE 5ft tall and have always wondered if I was outside the "averages". But I think what Haybales is saying is that it doesn't matter how petite you are, the rules of weight loss apply for everyone - we just have a smaller TDEE.

Eggatomic, you are just about my twin! I am at 67kg now but my goal is 53 because I like to do weights and I think that is a reasonable amount of muscle (I was about 50-51kg at one time and size 1 and was very happy but all I did was run. Now I like doing weights). Congratulations on your weight loss so far! How long did it take you? Do you like weights or mostly cardio?

[Eggatomic]

Rhythm,

Thanks! I lost my weight in a slow and very relaxing pace. So, it took me about 7-8months to do so. But I am still szie US4/6 or UK 10. I think you were much slimmer than me when you were 50-51kg.

 I do like weight training as well but I think my exerises combine 25% of weight training(mainly bodypump class at the gym),  25% of yoga or pliates and 50% cardio(bodycombat/bodyjam/rpm) because I do like the feeling after finished exhausting exercises . Actually, I love to do all sort of exercises except running:P

[Inga]

I am 5'6" and I get a calorie goal of 900. Yeah, you can shoot for the goal they give you and go over that on some days. The way to get more calories to play with is to get more steps. 

[Heybales]

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@Inga wrote:

I am 5'6" and I get a calorie goal of 900. Yeah, you can shoot for the goal they give you and go over that on some days. The way to get more calories to play with is to get more steps. 

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The only way you got a calorie goal of 900 is because you selected Sedentary and most aggressive probably, and that's at the start of the day before you have shown you are more active than Sedentary.

I sure hope you look at goal later in day to discover it has gone up, and meet your new goal.

Because normal accepted minimum purely for safety to get enough nutritients in average diet is 1200 for average sedentary woman - and you are taller than average, hopefully more than sedentary, and hopefully don't want to be average anyway.

Besides, minimum for safety is like the old building codes - minimum for safety, not for longevity, performance, or aesthetics.

But you may want to perform better, look better, live longer.

Don't do bare minimum - or below if you thing 900 is reasonable.